The owners of a private reserve in Montague were treated to a rare and exciting sighting when a Cape Leopard appeared out of the bushes in the search of food.
Wolwehoek Private Reserve is located just 20 minutes from Montagu and is a luxury secluded self-catering accommodation with the most incredible views of the mountainside. The reserve is home to Dassies, Klipspringer, Caracal, Cape Grysbok, Mountain Reedbuck and now Cape Leopard.
In a post on Facebook, the owners excitedly shared their once-in-a-lifetime experience of seeing a leopard in close proximity on their reserve.
“After 3 years of owning Wolwehoek we were finally treated to our own leopard sighting! After catching an initial brief glimpse, we thought that was it – but then the leopard reappeared from the bushes and started walking across the cliffs searching for the dassies who were frantically alarm calling. It seemed unfazed by our presence at the cabin as we kept super quiet and almost motionless.
“We spent the next ~2 hours watching it from the cabin while it went from rock to rock, effortlessly scaling the cliffs, before eventually giving up and walking away over the mountain and leaving us shaking with excitement,” they said.
There have been three other recorded leopard sightings in the Western Cape earlier this year. The last was in August in Keurbooms and then one in May while a family were out enjoying a canoe ride in Keurbooms Nature Reserve. This might very well be the same leopard seen at different times.
Another sighting was captured on a camera trap in the mountains but the location was not disclosed.
Leopards are difficult to track, which makes it difficult to say how many are left in the Western Cape. Data from the province gathered from recent studies on leopard movement suggest there may be less than 500 in the Western Cape region.
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